Jake Xerxes Fussell with Dougie Poole & Michael Slyne

Jake Xerxes Fussell

Reared in Georgia and now settled in North Carolina, Jake Xerxes Fussell has established himself as a devoted listener and contemplative interpreter of a vast array of so-called folk songs, lovingly sourced from a personal store of favorites. On his latest album, When I’m Called—his first LP for Fat Possum, and his first as a parent—Fussell returns to a well of music that holds lifelong sentimental meaning, loosely contemplating the passage of time and the procession of life’s unexpected offerings.

A former apprentice to Piedmont blues legend Precious Bryant, he’s spent years traveling and recording with folklorists like Art Rosenbaum and George Mitchell, and has gone on to tour with Wilco, Bill Callahan, and The Decemberists while releasing a string of acclaimed records that reimagine traditional material for the present tense.

“…Fussell is the rare contemporary to approach folk in its pure form, shunning self-penned compositions about bummer relationships to concentrate on material handed down from bygone, hardened times.” – The New Yorker

“(Fussell) is one of the great magpies of American song, collecting forgotten, tarnished gems with a folklorist’s zeal… his renditions aren’t so much cover versions as composites…” – The Guardian

“…maybe the leading interpreter of American folk music right now.” – Ann Powers, NPR

Dougie Poole

Dougie Poole is a musician and songwriter living in Los Angeles. Coming of age in Providence, Rhode Island’s DIY scene in the early 2010s, he dabbled in heavier and more experimental music before maturing into a country auteur. On The Rainbow Wheel of Death, Poole’s 3rd release via Wharf Cat Records, he breathes new life into country music, retaining the acclaimed elements of his previous work — drum machines, acoustic guitars, synthesizers, and his deep-set voice — while pushing toward something warm, organic, and prismatic. He writes wry, slow-burning songs about freelancers, vape breaks, loading screens, and love in the algorithm age. His trilogy of records has earned praise for twisting outlaw country into something strange, dreamy, and deeply relatable, landing him on year-end lists and features from outlets like The Fader and Aquarium Drunkard.

Together, Fussell and Poole offer two sides of the same coin: one tracing songs back through history, the other beaming them in from some neon-lit future honky-tonk — a rare chance to hear both in the same room.

Michael Slyne

Michael Slyne, the shapeshifting force behind New London's Slyne & The Family Stoned, opens the show. Known for pushing rock music into wild, improvisational territory, Slyne has spent the past decade-plus leading ever-evolving lineups through blown-out psych punk, heavy drone, free-rock workouts, and moments of startling, fragile beauty. Solo, Slyne pulls those threads into something more intimate but no less intense: his recordings — often sprawling, spontaneous, and defiantly unpolished — have earned cult admiration for capturing the spirit of DIY chaos in its purest form.

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